In the Bedroom: Act Three “Did Matt want to shoot Richard?” Essay Prompt
Context: Did Matt want to shoot Richard? Certainly we know that Ruth coerced Matt into considering it; because of his fight with Ruth, Matt believes it may be the only way to salvage his marriage. (To review the fight scene, click here.)
But later, even quietly discussing it with Willis, Matt somehow seems… unnerved. Willis is quick to point out: The way Matt pulled the trigger—Matt’s timing—wasn’t “like they planned it.” It was almost as if Matt needed to do it then… or he wouldn’t do it at all.
Throughout Acts One and Two, Matt seemed like a fairly rationale person: A good father; a loving husband (despite the clear emotional distance exhibited by Ruth); and a logical human being. Even as Richard goes on trial, Matt seeks legal evidence that will put Richard behind bars. Matt is not “an eye for an eye” guy. In fact, until his fight with Ruth, Matt thinks justice will actually prevail.
So then… what happened? Why did he pull the trigger? Did Matt want to? Did he feel forced to? He was compelled to do it… but by what? Is Matt remorseful? In any case—how do you know?
Consider your answers to all of the above questions. What inferences support your conclusions? (All of the answers are inferred, not “spelled out.”)
Instructions: In five-to-eight complete paragraphs—using specificcharacter names,vivid, detailed descriptions of important events and scenes (demonstrating how closely you watched the film), and quoted passages from the short story (demonstrating how closely you read), explain whether or not Matt, when it finally came down to it, wanted to kill Richard. In your response, consider the following: Matt’s fight with Ruth; what Matt sees in Richard’s home, on the wall, as Richard packs clothing; the fact that, in killing Richard, Matt is committing “a crime of passion”; and the final scene of the movie (only one of three in the film to show a bedroom), as Matt rests, staring into the air.
Matt did it… But did he want to? Is he at all remorseful? Why or why not?
Somewhere in your essay, you must explain how Matt's actions, regardless of their motivations, illustrate the definition of the word "tragedy."
TRAGEDY [ Noun ]:A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.
Reexamine excerpts from the short story and major scenes from the film.Specificity iskey.
All of the evidence here is inferred. Point to places in the story that infer information that supports your response. Do not use “I think” or “I believe.” I know you think it. I know you believe it; you wrote it. So be assertive. Be specific. Be creative. But also be logical.
EXCERPTS
“It seemed to Matt that from the time Mary Ann called weeping to tell him until now, a Saturday night in September, sitting in the car with Willis, parked beside Strout’s car, waiting for the bar to close, that he had not so much moved through his life and wandered through it, his spirit like a dazed body bumping into furniture and corners… And beneath his listless wandering, every day in his soul he shot Richard Strout in the face… And at nights in bed [Ruth] would hold Matt and cry, or sometimes she was silent and Matt would touch her tightened arm, her clenched fist. As his own right fist was now, squeezing the butt of the revolver… The front door of the bar opened and closed again and Willis looked at Matt then at the corner of the building; when Strout came around it alone Matt got out of the car, giving up the hope he had kept all night (and for the past week) that Strout would come out with friends, and Willis would simply drive away; thinking All right then. All right…Matt had not told Willis he was afraid he could not be alone with Strout for very long, smell his smells, feel the presence of his flesh, hear his voice, and then shoot him… Matt’s left hand was sweating in the glove” (11-13).
Click here to see how the above-passage was adapted for the film.
“‘He was making it with my wife.’ Strout’s voice was careful, not pleading. Matt pressed the muzzle against Strout’s head, pressed it harder than he wanted to, feeling through the gun Strout’s head flinching and moving forward; then he lowered the gun to his lap. ‘Don’t talk,’ he said… Matt [was] thinking now of the hole he and Willis had dug last Sunday afternoon after telling their wives they were going to Fenway Park. The listened to the game on a transistor radio, but heard none of it as they dug into the soft earth on the knoll they had chosen because elms and maples sheltered it… Looking at the back of Strout’s head he thought of Frank’s grave… He thought of Frank… imaged him feeling young and strong… and feeling loved… then the front door opening and this son of a b— coming in and Frank seeing that he meant the gun in his hand, this son of a b— and his gun the last person and think Frank saw on earth” (13-14).
Click here to see how the above-passages were adapted for the film.
“Strout unlocked the door… They crossed the kitchen, Matt glancing at the sink and stove and refrigerator… He did not want to look at any more but he looked quickly at all he could see… then down the hall where, near the bedroom door, hung a color photograph of Mary Ann and the two boys sitting on a lawn… Mary Ann smiling at the camera or Strout or whoever held the camera, smiling as she had on Matt’s lawn this summer while he waited for the charcoal and they all talked and he looked at her brown legs and at Frank touched her harm, her shoulder, her hair; he moved down the hall with her smile in his mind, wondering: was that when they were both playing around and she was smiling like that at him and they were happy, even sometimes, making it worth it? He recalled her eyes, the pain in them, and he was conscious of the circles of love he was touching with the hand that held the revolver so tightly now as Strout stopped at the door at the end of the hall… Strout went to the closet and got the suitcase from the floor and opened it on the bed… ‘He was making it with my wife. I’d go pick up my kids and he’d be there. Sometimes he spent the night. My boys told me.’ He did not look at Matt as he spoke… ‘I wanted to try to get together with her again… I couldn’t even talk to her. He was always with her. I’m going to jail for it; if I ever get out I’ll be an old man. Isn’t that enough?’… Strout closed the suitcase… They went down the hall, Mat looking again at the photograph… As they drove back through town, Matt’s body sagged, going limp with his spirit and its new and false bond with Strout… [He] wondered now… if sending Strout away would have been enough; but then he knew that just thinking of Strout in Montana or whatever place lay at the end of the lie he had told, thinking of him walking the streets there, loving a girl there… would be enough to slowly rot the rest of his days. And Ruth’s. Again he was certain that she knew, that she was waiting for him” (15-19).
Click here and then here to see how the above-passages were adapted for the film.
“Strout turned to walk, the suitcase in his right hand… The gun kicked in Matt’s hand, and the explosion of the shot surrounded him, isolating him in a nimbus of sound that cut him off from all his time, all history, isolated him standing absolutely still on the dirt road with the gun in his hand, looking down at Richard Strout squirming on his belly, kicking one leg behind him, pushing himself forward, toward the woods. Then Matt went to him and shot him once in the back of the head… Driving [later] south to Boston… he relived the suitcase dropping, the quick dip and turning of Strout’s back, and the kick of the gun, the sound of the shot. When he walked to Strout, he still existed within the first shot, still trembled and breathed with it. The second shot and the burial seemed to be happening to someone else, someone he was watching” (20-21).
Click here to see how the above-passage was adapted for the film.
“‘Did you do it?... Are you alright?... Tell me,’ she said… He started from the beginning, in the parking lot at the bar; but soon with his eyes closed and Ruth petting him, he spoke of Strout’s house: the order, the woman presence, the picture on the wall. ‘The way she was smiling,’ he said. ‘What about it?’ [she asked]. ‘I don’t know,’ [he replied]… With Ruth now he left Strout’s house and told again his lie to Strout, gave him again hope that Strout must have for a while believed, else he would have to believe on the gun pointed at him for the last two hours of his life. And with Ruth he saw again the dropping of the suitcase, the darting move to the right; and he told of the first shot, feeling her hand on him but his heart isolated still, beating on the road still in that explosion like thunder. He told her the rest, but the words had no images for him, he did not see himself doing what the words said he had done; he only saw himself on that road… She was holding him, wanting him, and he wished he could make love with her but he could not. He saw Frank and Mary Ann making love in her bed… and he saw Frank and Strout, their faces alive; he saw red and yellow leaves falling to the earth, then snow: falling and freezing and falling; and holding Ruth… he shuddered with a sob that he kept silent in his heart” (22-23).
Click here to see how the above-passage was adapted for the film.
Looking to quote additional passages from the story? Click here for a copy of the entire novella.
Need help citing information in your essay? Click here for a step-by-step citation guide.
“Did Matt want to shoot Richard?”
Essay Prompt
Context: Did Matt want to shoot Richard? Certainly we know that Ruth coerced Matt into considering it; because of his fight with Ruth, Matt believes it may be the only way to salvage his marriage. (To review the fight scene, click here.)
But later, even quietly discussing it with Willis, Matt somehow seems… unnerved. Willis is quick to point out: The way Matt pulled the trigger—Matt’s timing—wasn’t “like they planned it.” It was almost as if Matt needed to do it then… or he wouldn’t do it at all.
Throughout Acts One and Two, Matt seemed like a fairly rationale person: A good father; a loving husband (despite the clear emotional distance exhibited by Ruth); and a logical human being. Even as Richard goes on trial, Matt seeks legal evidence that will put Richard behind bars. Matt is not “an eye for an eye” guy. In fact, until his fight with Ruth, Matt thinks justice will actually prevail.
So then… what happened? Why did he pull the trigger? Did Matt want to? Did he feel forced to? He was compelled to do it… but by what? Is Matt remorseful? In any case—how do you know?
Consider your answers to all of the above questions. What inferences support your conclusions? (All of the answers are inferred, not “spelled out.”)
Instructions: In five-to-eight complete paragraphs—using specific character names, vivid, detailed descriptions of important events and scenes (demonstrating how closely you watched the film), and quoted passages from the short story (demonstrating how closely you read), explain whether or not Matt, when it finally came down to it, wanted to kill Richard. In your response, consider the following: Matt’s fight with Ruth; what Matt sees in Richard’s home, on the wall, as Richard packs clothing; the fact that, in killing Richard, Matt is committing “a crime of passion”; and the final scene of the movie (only one of three in the film to show a bedroom), as Matt rests, staring into the air.
Matt did it… But did he want to? Is he at all remorseful? Why or why not?
Somewhere in your essay, you must explain how Matt's actions, regardless of their motivations, illustrate the definition of the word "tragedy."
TRAGEDY [ Noun ]: A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.
Reexamine excerpts from the short story and major scenes from the film. Specificity is key.
All of the evidence here is inferred. Point to places in the story that infer information that supports your response. Do not use “I think” or “I believe.” I know you think it. I know you believe it; you wrote it. So be assertive. Be specific. Be creative. But also be logical.
EXCERPTS
“It seemed to Matt that from the time Mary Ann called weeping to tell him until now, a Saturday night in September, sitting in the car with Willis, parked beside Strout’s car, waiting for the bar to close, that he had not so much moved through his life and wandered through it, his spirit like a dazed body bumping into furniture and corners… And beneath his listless wandering, every day in his soul he shot Richard Strout in the face… And at nights in bed [Ruth] would hold Matt and cry, or sometimes she was silent and Matt would touch her tightened arm, her clenched fist. As his own right fist was now, squeezing the butt of the revolver… The front door of the bar opened and closed again and Willis looked at Matt then at the corner of the building; when Strout came around it alone Matt got out of the car, giving up the hope he had kept all night (and for the past week) that Strout would come out with friends, and Willis would simply drive away; thinking All right then. All right…Matt had not told Willis he was afraid he could not be alone with Strout for very long, smell his smells, feel the presence of his flesh, hear his voice, and then shoot him… Matt’s left hand was sweating in the glove” (11-13).
Click here to see how the above-passage was adapted for the film.
“‘He was making it with my wife.’ Strout’s voice was careful, not pleading. Matt pressed the muzzle against Strout’s head, pressed it harder than he wanted to, feeling through the gun Strout’s head flinching and moving forward; then he lowered the gun to his lap. ‘Don’t talk,’ he said… Matt [was] thinking now of the hole he and Willis had dug last Sunday afternoon after telling their wives they were going to Fenway Park. The listened to the game on a transistor radio, but heard none of it as they dug into the soft earth on the knoll they had chosen because elms and maples sheltered it… Looking at the back of Strout’s head he thought of Frank’s grave… He thought of Frank… imaged him feeling young and strong… and feeling loved… then the front door opening and this son of a b— coming in and Frank seeing that he meant the gun in his hand, this son of a b— and his gun the last person and think Frank saw on earth” (13-14).
Click here to see how the above-passages were adapted for the film.
“Strout unlocked the door… They crossed the kitchen, Matt glancing at the sink and stove and refrigerator… He did not want to look at any more but he looked quickly at all he could see… then down the hall where, near the bedroom door, hung a color photograph of Mary Ann and the two boys sitting on a lawn… Mary Ann smiling at the camera or Strout or whoever held the camera, smiling as she had on Matt’s lawn this summer while he waited for the charcoal and they all talked and he looked at her brown legs and at Frank touched her harm, her shoulder, her hair; he moved down the hall with her smile in his mind, wondering: was that when they were both playing around and she was smiling like that at him and they were happy, even sometimes, making it worth it? He recalled her eyes, the pain in them, and he was conscious of the circles of love he was touching with the hand that held the revolver so tightly now as Strout stopped at the door at the end of the hall… Strout went to the closet and got the suitcase from the floor and opened it on the bed… ‘He was making it with my wife. I’d go pick up my kids and he’d be there. Sometimes he spent the night. My boys told me.’ He did not look at Matt as he spoke… ‘I wanted to try to get together with her again… I couldn’t even talk to her. He was always with her. I’m going to jail for it; if I ever get out I’ll be an old man. Isn’t that enough?’… Strout closed the suitcase… They went down the hall, Mat looking again at the photograph… As they drove back through town, Matt’s body sagged, going limp with his spirit and its new and false bond with Strout… [He] wondered now… if sending Strout away would have been enough; but then he knew that just thinking of Strout in Montana or whatever place lay at the end of the lie he had told, thinking of him walking the streets there, loving a girl there… would be enough to slowly rot the rest of his days. And Ruth’s. Again he was certain that she knew, that she was waiting for him” (15-19).
Click here and then here to see how the above-passages were adapted for the film.
“Strout turned to walk, the suitcase in his right hand… The gun kicked in Matt’s hand, and the explosion of the shot surrounded him, isolating him in a nimbus of sound that cut him off from all his time, all history, isolated him standing absolutely still on the dirt road with the gun in his hand, looking down at Richard Strout squirming on his belly, kicking one leg behind him, pushing himself forward, toward the woods. Then Matt went to him and shot him once in the back of the head… Driving [later] south to Boston… he relived the suitcase dropping, the quick dip and turning of Strout’s back, and the kick of the gun, the sound of the shot. When he walked to Strout, he still existed within the first shot, still trembled and breathed with it. The second shot and the burial seemed to be happening to someone else, someone he was watching” (20-21).
Click here to see how the above-passage was adapted for the film.
“‘Did you do it?... Are you alright?... Tell me,’ she said… He started from the beginning, in the parking lot at the bar; but soon with his eyes closed and Ruth petting him, he spoke of Strout’s house: the order, the woman presence, the picture on the wall. ‘The way she was smiling,’ he said. ‘What about it?’ [she asked]. ‘I don’t know,’ [he replied]… With Ruth now he left Strout’s house and told again his lie to Strout, gave him again hope that Strout must have for a while believed, else he would have to believe on the gun pointed at him for the last two hours of his life. And with Ruth he saw again the dropping of the suitcase, the darting move to the right; and he told of the first shot, feeling her hand on him but his heart isolated still, beating on the road still in that explosion like thunder. He told her the rest, but the words had no images for him, he did not see himself doing what the words said he had done; he only saw himself on that road… She was holding him, wanting him, and he wished he could make love with her but he could not. He saw Frank and Mary Ann making love in her bed… and he saw Frank and Strout, their faces alive; he saw red and yellow leaves falling to the earth, then snow: falling and freezing and falling; and holding Ruth… he shuddered with a sob that he kept silent in his heart” (22-23).
Click here to see how the above-passage was adapted for the film.
Looking to quote additional passages from the story? Click here for a copy of the entire novella.
Need help citing information in your essay? Click here for a step-by-step citation guide.